The Buzz

Published 3:29 pm, Saturday, October 3, 2015

Regeneron, as usual, quiet about plans

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, the rapidly growing company with its manufacturing operations in East Greenbush, has kept a low profile in the wake of its successes with at least two new drugs, one to treat macular degeneration and the other cholesterol.

It took the company several hours to respond to a reporter's inquiry — well after our deadline — and the response added little new information.

We're guessing it's still getting its various assistance packages — payments in lieu of taxes, industrial development agency financing — before it goes public with job creation figures and project cost.

SUNY Poly can look to China for inspiration

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's rapid expansion of SUNY Polytechnic Institute across the state — including plans to build and own computer chip and solar panel factories — may seem like a risky venture.

But the governor and SUNY Poly President Alain Kaloyeros are onto a larger trend where governments are increasingly behind movements in the semiconductor industry due to the cost and national security implications.

Perhaps the best example is a Chinese company called Tsinghua Unigroup that recently tried to buy U.S. memory chip maker Micron for $23 billion and is reportedly interested in buying GlobalFoundries.

Tsinghua Unigroup was created by Tsinghua University in Beijing, one of China's top technical universities, and the company is not shy about going after targets across the globe, helping launch a $19 billion acquisition fund that is raising eyebrows.

Kaloyeros is probably jealous.

Chinese could boost chipmaker's coffers

Back in 2009 when Abu Dhabi stepped in to finance the Advanced Micro Devices chip fab project in Malta and create GlobalFoundries, the oil-rich Persian Gulf was the hero.

Awash in cash, oil-rich OPEC members like Abu Dhabi were investing in the U.S. high-tech sector as a way to diversify their economies. Now with the price of oil having crashed, it may be increasingly difficult for Abu Dhabi to fund the chip business.

The Chinese are a perfect match. China spends more importing microchips than it does oil, and the country needs to secure an adequate chip supply for the future.

Perhaps having China own GlobalFoundries and its Malta chip fab runs counter to U.S. security interests. But China has far greater resources.